Virtual Home 8 (iOS 8) turns Touch ID sensor into home button

Touch ID is now part of most recently released iPhone and iPad models. This highly useful sensor allows users to unlock their device and perform a number of other operations by scanning their unique fingerprint. A new Cydia tweak for iOS 8 devices called Virtual Home 8 (iOS 8) takes Touch ID’s functionality a step further by allowing users to return to the homescreen by simply putting their finger on the sensor.

With Virtual Home 8 installed you don’t have to press the home button to get back to the homescreen as you can simply tap on it just like you do to scan your finger with Touch ID. The tweak supports a number of input options including single tap, double tap, short hold, and single tap and short hold. You can assign these input methods to different operations such as sleep, multitasking, opening Siri and activating Reachability on larger iPhones.

Virtual Home 8 also has a feature called QuickUnlock, which you can use to wake up your device by simply touching the Touch ID sensor. As this feature consumes more battery life you get the option to turn it off from tweak’s Settings.

Don’t use passcode or Touch ID based unlock? No problem as Virtual Home will still let you unlock your iPhone or iPad by tapping your finger on the sensor instead of performing slide to unlock gesture. In this case anyone can open the device by tapping on the button without scanning their finger.

If you are using third party Touch ID based tweaks like iTouchShare, BioLockDown and others then you will be pleased to know that Virtual Home 8 has been tested to work with them as well.

You can download Virual Home 8 (iOS 8) from Cydia for $1.49. It requires iOS 8 to run. If you are still using iOS 7 then check out VirualHome for iOS 7.